Manufacturing facilities typically include numerous pieces of manufacturing or production equipment, also called manufacturing assets. Each manufacturing asset may include one or more electrical, mechanical, electromechanical, and/or electronic components configured to perform one or more operations directly or indirectly associated with a manufacturing task. Examples of manufacturing assets include industrial robots, conveyor assemblies, stamping/forming machinery, and injection molding presses.
In many facilities, manufacturing assets are connected to a manufacturing network that facilitates communication with and control of the manufacturing assets. Communicatively interconnecting manufacturing assets in one or more manufacturing facilities results is many recognized benefits. As one example, connecting manufacturing assets to a manufacturing network may enable such assets to be controlled remotely via the network and may also enable individuals responsible for overseeing the manufacturing assets to receive data regarding the operating of the manufacturing assets via the manufacturing network. For instance, if a given manufacturing asset detects an operational issue (e.g., a temperature of a component exceeding a threshold), the manufacturing asset may send an alert via the manufacturing network to a technician's client station, which may enable the technician to address the operational issue more quickly. As another example, connecting manufacturing assets to a manufacturing network may facilitate communication between manufacturing assets. For instance, a first manufacturing asset could send an alert that a first production task has been completed, and that alert may trigger a second manufacturing asset to begin a second production task, thereby increasing the efficiency and cohesiveness of the overall production run. A manufacturing network may provide various other benefits as well.
In practice, manufacturing networks have certain characteristics that distinguish them from other types of data networks. As one example, manufacturing networks typically have a tree-like topology composed of nodes that are communicatively interlinked, where the nodes in the upper levels of the topology are typically networking devices (e.g., network switches, routers, repeaters, hubs, etc.) and nodes at the edge of the topology are typically programmable logic controllers (“PLCs”), computer numerical controllers (“CNCs”), drive systems, Human Machine Interfaces (“HMIs”) or the like that are configured to control manufacturing assets or to allow humans to interact with the manufacturing assets. As another example, the topology of a manufacturing network typically remains fairly static once the network is established, whereas other types of data networks typically have topologies that change frequently (e.g., as wireless devices join and leave the network). Furthermore, given the harsh environment of a manufacturing plant, it is expected that much of the networking uses wired cables and the like due to poor wireless connectivity.